Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1887-03-04
TH4 LAW.

review those essential points OF the new
law which give sudh satisfaction to the
loyal men of Utah. irrespective of party
affiliations, and c4ll so loudly for their
appreciation and support. These polnts
bristle over a wife area, and are all
sharpened for thf occasion so per-
emptorilv demanding their keenness.
Section six says:
'That all laws of Il e Legislative Assembly
of the Territory of Utah which provide that
prosecution for adultery can only be COM
menced on the complkint of the husband or
wife are hereby disatproved and annulled;
and all prosecutions 4or adultery may here
after be instituted ih the same way that
prosecutions for othef crimes are"
This section is the entering wedge
which is to rive poligamy. 1t is direct
and effective blow at that legislative
infamy which has for its sole object the
perpetuation OF pdygamous relations.
"All prosecutions for adultery may here
after be instituted IN the same way that
prosecutions for other crimes are' says
the section. This places it in the power
of the loyal and moral element of the
community to at OF ice direct the punish
ment of the law against that open and
barefaced adultery ambushed under the
name of polygamy end sheltered by Ter
ritorial legislation Enactment.
Section Seven reasing as follows:
"That commissioners appointed by the
supreme court and district courts in the
Territory of Utah Hall possess ana may
exercise all the powers and jurisdiction that
are or NAV be possessed or exercised by JUS
tioes of the peace in said Territory under
the laws thereof, and the same powers con-
ferred by law on commissioners appointed
by circuit courts of thb United States"
Gives to commission trs appointed by the
United States, and therefore opposed to
polygamous vice, the power and jurisdic-
tion possessed by theljustices Of the peace
elected by the Mormon votes, and de-
voted to Mormon interests. In any case
this section secures convictions for polyg-
amy, for the commissioners will render
the decisions heretofore dictated by the
pernicious Mormon Influence.
Section Eight conftrs upon the United
States Marshal of the Territory and his
deputies the ample plwers of the Terri
torial sheriffs, constsbles and deputies.
Section Nine provides:
That every ceremony of marriage or in
the nature of a marriage ceremony, of any
kind, in any of the Territories of the United
States, whether eitheE or both or more of
the parties to such cbremony be lawfully
competent to be the Subjects of such mar
riage or ceremony rhot, shall be certified
by certificate stating the fact and nature
of such ceremony, the Hull names of each of
the parties concerned, fnd the full names of
every officer, priest anH person by whatever
style or designation cal led or known, in any
way taking part in the performance of such
ceremony, which certificate shall be drawn
up and signed by the parties to such cere-
mony and by every officer, priest or person
taking part in the performance of such cere-
mony, and shall be blythe officer, priest, or
other person solemni3ng such marriage or
ceremony filed in the bffice of the probate
court, or, if there be none, in the Office of
the court having probate powers in the
county or district in which such ceremony
shall take place, for record, and shall be
immediately recorded and be all times sub
ject to inspection as other public records.
Such certificate, or the record thereof, or a
duly certified copy of such record, shall be
prima facie evidence df the facts required
by this act TO be stated therein, in any pro-
ceeding, civil or criminal, in which the mat
ter shall be drawn in Question. Any person
who shall willfully viblate any of the pro-
visions of this section shall be deemed guilty
of a misdemeanor, and shall, on conviction
thereof, be punished by fine of not more
than one thousand doHars, or by imprison-
ment not longer than fwo years, or by both
said punishments, in the discretion of the
court.
The provisions of this section are of
vital Importance, and in its action the
polygamous Mormon Twill find that mar
rying more than one wife will open an
exceedingly hard roal p to travel.
Section eleven says
"That the laws enacted by the legislative
assembly of the Territory of Utah which
provide for or recognize the capacity of
illegitimate children toiinherit or to be en-
titled TO any distributi4e share in the estate
of the father of any sufh illegitimate child
are hereby disapproved and annulled and
no illegitimate child shall hereafter be
entitled TO inherit FROM his or her father, or
to receive any distributive share in the
estate of his or her father"
This section also stfikes straight from
the shoulder. Polygamous marriages
produce illegitimate children, and ille-
gitimate children axe herein debarred
from all the privileges enjoyed by the
offspring of homogeneous marriage.
Section twelve witBdraws all authority
from 1.-The Mormon Probate Courts, of
which they could make mischievous use,
and centers it in the District Courts of
the Territory.
Section fifteen deals righteously and
vigorously with that immoral and far
reaching net for the unwary, the Per-
petual Emigrating Fund Company, abol-
ishing it at once and forever.
The sixteenth section of the measure
brings good out of evil, for it provides
that after the business affairs of the de-
funct Emigration Company are wound
up, that any surplus remaining shall be
applied to the use of the common schools
of the Territory.
The seventeenth section puts an end to
the so-called Church of the Latter-day
Saints, and thus divorces that monstrous
union between Church and State, whose
power for evil, like the Upas tree of
deadly growth, has so long exercised
such a baleful influence upon the for
tunes OF Utah. The section further en-
sures the rigid enforcement Of the above
provisions by vesting in the Supreme